Fifties from Rohan Kadam and Manish Pandey ensured Karnataka had enough to defend despite an outstanding final over from the seamer
Karnataka 176 for 7 (Kadam 87, Pandey 54, Nalkande 4-28, Lalit 2-36) beat Vidarbha 172 for 6 (Taide 32, Satish 31, Cariappa 2-27) by four runs
Nalkande’s four-wicket burst came in the final over of Karnataka’s innings, keeping them to 176 for 7. Vidarbha made a good fist of the chase, but were playing catch-up in the final stages, and eventually ended at 172 for 6.
Kadam reached his fifty off 36 balls, and remained aggressive after that, eventually falling to Lalit Yadav after a 56-ball innings that was laced with seven fours and four sixes.
It meant Karnataka finished about 10 runs short of what they might have expected to, but the bowlers still had a sizeable score to defend.
While Vidarbha’s top order continued to make starts, none of them stayed on and gave the innings impetus as Kadam had done for Karnataka, or even kept one end ticking as Pandey had done. Every single batter in the top seven got into double figures, but Taide’s 32 was the highest score.
Karnataka’s bowlers kept striking regularly, and the required rate steadily crept up. Akshay Karnewar and Apoorv Wankhade offered a glimpse of revival with a 41-run sixth-wicket stand in 4.2 overs, but Karnewar fell to the first ball of the final over, having faced up to Vidyadhar Patil with 14 runs needed. Karnewar hit two sixes and a four in his 12-ball 22, and with his wicket, the outside chance Vidarbha had of storming to victory receded. Patil kept things tight through the rest of the final over, and a last-ball four from Wankhade only served to narrow Vidarbha’s margin of defeat.